• According to the Microsoft docs you can pass binary or a constant that is implicitly convertible to binary making Steve's answer correct ( but not popular 🙂 )

    binary_str
    Is a binary constant, or a constant that is implicitly convertible to binary, to associate with the current session or connection.+

    @ binary_var
    Is a varbinary or binary variable holding a context value to associate with the current session or connection.